Many people keep domestic pets, particularly cats in a house or an apartment. When the pet does not have free access to a suitable outdoor location for elimination, a litter container or litter box is typically provided in an interior room of the house or apartment. As every cat owner has surely experienced, such a litter container can become offensively odoriferous. In the prior art, many means for moving or removing pungent odors from such pet litter boxes have been disclosed. For example, several litter box ventilation systems use fans and flexible hoses to carry odorous air completely outside the house. Disadvantages of this type of system include the requirement that the litter container be located near an opening to the outside of the house and the manipulation of a clumsy flexible hose which may limit the portability of the pet litter container. Litter box ventilators that exhaust to the outside of the house must also prevent other animals, insects, rodents, and/or inclement weather from entering the house through the outdoor exhaust opening. In other vented litter boxes, expensive and complex switch and timer systems are used to turn on the exhaust fan so that the pet feels comfortable enough in the litter box to actually use the litter box. Other prior art litter box ventilators draw air through the litter material in order to keep odor from emanating from the litter material. Problems with drawing air through the litter material include keeping the ventilation system clean, and the a particularly harsh environment for the motor used to move the odoriferous air. With regard to filters in litter boxes, prior art odor removing filters have not been self-contained, or have not provided an easy way to change the filter material when it is dirty or no longer able to remove odors.
Therefore, there is a need for an apparatus that overcomes the above described and other disadvantages.